


Ex Infra

by justbygrace



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-17 00:58:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3509216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justbygrace/pseuds/justbygrace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ex Infra - From Below<br/>The circus AU inspired by a decidedly un-circus-like gif which I am unable to link here because I don't know how.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ex Infra

When John Noble was thirteen he tried to run away from the circus and join a family. It ended up with him being returned to the circus and his parents sitting him down and having a talk about how Noble Circus was a family affair and he was a Noble first and foremost. He didn't try running away again for a long time after that.

When John was six an old man with an unique act joined the circus. He was a skilled knife thrower, his weapons doing fancy flips before hitting the target dead on. From the moment John spotted him he was enthralled and the old man had a ready and willing pupil. He spent long hours teaching young John the control needed to learn the act and John hung on every word he said, showing an extraordinary aptitude for the sport.

When John was twelve he gave up knife throwing for a month. His parents tried to talk to him, Donna attempted to reason with him, but no one could manage to get him to explain why, let alone perform. It was his best friend Jack who found him curled up on the straw behind the llama pens next to a stack of books. John eventually admitted his desire to escape this life and Jack was sympathetic, if realistic, telling him that he would get the chance someday if he was only patient.

When John was ten he broke a girl's heart for the first time. She was a small girl in a huge crowd, but she caught his eye and he spent his precious free moments impressing her with his throwing skills. He won her a giant teddy bear, took her on a ride on the elephants, and kissed her under the bleachers. When the circus packed up and left, he smiled and told her he'd be back. He never was, but she was only a small girl in a huge crowd.

When John was fourteen he got his first assistant. Before that point he had been performing with either his sister or Jack, but Donna had gotten her own high-wire act and Jack was promoted to head animal trainer. The girl chosen to be John's assistant lasted exactly three months before she quit, not only his act but the circus altogether. Everyone brushed it off and a new girl was chosen. That one lasted a month and a half. The one after that lasted three weeks.

When John was eight the old man who had trained him died. It was not sudden in the grand scheme of life and death and aging, but no one had thought to mention anything to John beforehand. When he found out he refused to speak to anyone for three days. His father told him to suck it up, his mother told him he was a brave boy for not crying, and everyone told him he didn't have to perform. He did anyway, this time adding new tricks he had not yet attempted - nailing every single one.

When John was eighteen he met Rose Tyler. She was hired to be his latest assistant and John started their first training session in a dark mood. He'd had two assistants quit in the last week and he was not thrilled about beginning the process all over again. Pulling out all the stops, he hit her with his most difficult tricks immediately, jaw dropping when she never flinched. The only thing he clearly recollected from that day was that her eyes were the color of the finest whiskey.

When John was sixteen he got a girl pregnant. His reputation with the ladies preceded him from town to town and his antics had always been a joke with the rest of the carnies. There had never been consequences until the night he received a letter, the girl eight towns back was pregnant and there was no way the baby could be anyone's but his. For the first time in years he confided in his parents, they told him not to worry and they would handle it, and indeed he never heard from her again. He never asked any questions and they never offered any explanations.

When John was twenty-two, he lost his best friend to an accident that should have been preventable. A drunk underage animal handler, angry elephants, and five minutes later Jack Harkness was dead. John tried to handle it the way he always had, by getting very drunk and running away, but this time something had changed, and John found himself sobbing on the couch of Rose's trailer. She rubbed his back, spoke soothingly, and let him cry it out.

When John was twenty he nearly broke Rose's heart. Nothing had prepared him for how to love a woman and he went about it in all the wrong ways. They fought nearly as much as they didn't and she was the only person who had ever pushed him back. Despite their differences, they were a seamless team, their act gaining so much notoriety, they received multiple requests for solo acts or contracts with other circuses. It took him months to realize the requests hadn't started rolling in until he had met Rose.

When John was twenty-three he left the circus again. It wasn't in the middle of the night and it wasn't a grand escape. Instead it was a conversation between adults that ended with John walking away with his head held high towards a different future. But the biggest difference was that he wasn't alone this time, he had Rose by his side and he wasn't running away from something so much as he was running towards something else.


End file.
